The result took Gary Rowett's men above Bristol City on goal difference and they are now only three points behind Cardiff City, who occupy the second automatic promotion spot.

“We’re confident," said Nugent, who scored twice and set up the other goal against Millwall. "We’re in really good form at the moment and that’s vital with four games coming up in 10 days.

David Nugent celebrates scoring for Derby County against Millwall (Image: Andy Clarke)

"We could end up being second or sixth in the league, it could swing both ways and we have to make sure that we’re ready on Boxing Day.

"The games come thick and fast and you've got to try to win them all if you want to stay in this promotion hunt, because we don't want to go in the play-offs, we want automatic promotion.

“Cardiff getting beaten by Bolton, you don’t expect that but in this league, anything can happen. Bristol City drew 1-1 with QPR. They had a tough game against Manchester United (in the Carabao Cup), which probably took its toll a little bit.

I’m happy for them to be in the semi-final of the cup, so they’ll enjoy that, but hopefully that’ll tire them out a little bit and we can keep on winning our league games, push up the table and move above Cardiff.”

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“When we played Hull at home, we gave them a good hiding, so they’ll probably have that in the back of their minds and want revenge, but our away form has been solid recently," said Nugent.

"We’re scoring goals away from home and winning games.

“With a new manager coming in, you can expect a bit more fight from them but it's up to us to go there and put them under pressure, get the early goal and hopefully score a few more and get the three points.”